In the art of picture framing, solid color metal molding has been used for many years, and it is associated with low cost framing that is not regarded in the industry as aesthetically pleasing. No one has ever produced metal molding having a pattern, let alone a faux finish, because the labor required to produce such finishes would make the product prohibitively expensive.
The art of creating faux finishes, such as marble, has been practiced for centuries. There are essentially two methods known for the production of faux finishes, namely, the positive and negative methods. These methods are described in Isabel O'Neil's The Art of the Painted Finish for Furniture & Decoration (1971). The term "positive" describes those processes in which the marble pattern is created by direct application of the paints to the surface to be decorated. Positive methods include flooding the surface with a base color and applying other colors in a pattern to the wet base-colored surface. Another positive method includes laying the floating colors on a dry surface and inducing them to flow with a spattering of mineral spirits.
O'Neil also describes the negative method which involves the creation of a marble-like pattern by the partial removal of paint. This method involves a surface which has been shellacked. The surface is coated with flatting oil and coated again with Japan paint thinned with flatting oil and mineral spirits. The marble finish is actually created by laying newspaper over the piece to absorb the colors.
Other references that describe faux finishes include Jocasta Innes' Paint Magic (rev'd. ed. 1987) which teaches a positive method of applying a faux marble finish to woodwork and floors by adding colors to a prepared surface.
Mitchell, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,387, discloses a method for superimposing marble patterns one upon the other on a flat surface, such as a paper surface. Briefly, the method entails floating and combining several colors of ink to create an ink film upon a surface of a liquid with which the ink is not miscible and contacting the paper surface with this ink film.
Shemenski, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,736, discloses a method for producing a pattern (not necessarily marble-like) upon a cylindrical, non-porous body such as a pen. The method includes spraying a first coat of lacquer onto the object, curing this coat, and then rolling the object along a textured patterning pad which applies a second coat. A hard, resinous, protective coating may be applied over the dried second coat.
Both O'Neil and Innes describe methods of producing a faux marble finish on surfaces that are absorbent (porous), such as wooden furniture and floors. Also, both describe methods that use only simple tools, such as brushes, paper, feathers and are thus labor-intensive. Mitchell is similarly directed toward a manual method of coating flat sheets such as paper. Shemenski, while applying a coat to a non-porous surface, is limited to cylindrical surfaces, such as pens, which can roll over the patterning pad for the application of the second coat. Significantly, in Shemenski's method, the object is physically rolled over a patterning pad which applies a second coat of paint. From the examples, it is readily apparent that Shemenski's method is also manual and labor-intensive.
In the manufacture of metal molding, the substrate is typically line fed through a spray painting machine, and a uniform coat of paint is applied. The line speed of this operation, which is usually over 200 feet per minute, does not permit the use of these known methods of creating faux finishes. There exists a need for an inexpensive, non-labor intensive method of applying a faux finish to a non-porous surface, such as a metal molding suitable for use in picture framing, which can be rapidly applied to keep pace with commercial production.